Notables: Where Design and Music Converge

I’ve got the Crystal Soul MG (and a Black Pigeon version too). The Crystal Soul came with v2.3 of the firmware. So if you want 2.4 you’ll need to upload the firmware into the chip yourself or buy a 2.4 chip. I’ve now got 2.4 on both MGs, they sound much smoother than before.

@DJHombre how’s the stability of the 2.4? I had an early model 2.1? that kept crashing and doing strange random things.


The video above shows some nice upgrades in 2.4. I didn’t realise you could connect them together.

The MG would be a beast if it could play and loop more than one sample at a time IMO. You’d then be able to create whole songs out of 8 looping/one-shot samples rather than only being able to play one note.

@LibertineLush, @DJHombre - thanks for the heads up on the 2.4 update!!! I just emailed them for the upgrade…

At last, the last crystal soul is gone, I will no longer GAS for this pretty little thing :smiley:

now that Elektron have released Overbridge my GAS for an A4 or Rytm has been stirred again.


ONE DAY I will own an Elektron box or two :wink: (Just got to sneak it past the accountant … i mean wife) :wink:

The ‘Elvis’ microphone! (Trying not to want a MicroGranny/anything by Elektron but powers of resistance are weakening…)

When talking modulars (and slightly outside as well, because Shruthi), in my opinion Mutable Instruments does the most beautiful Eurorack modules. They put a lot of attention to detail, also loving the characteristic logo on Shruthi PCBs.

Outside Eurorack, Buchla stands out design-wise, although not for everyone (kind of on a border between art and cheesy imho).

EDIT: I should also mention it’s nice to see this kind of discussion on a forum dedicated to the most beautifully designed music tool on Earth to date :wink:

I really like the look of the Phenol synth:



phenol

@spacetravelmadeeasy v2.4 is rock solid for me so far, although I didn’t have any issues previously.

Seems like someone at Bastl is a KLF fan, there’s a couple of samples in the Crystal Soul!

When talking modulars (and slightly outside as well, because Shruthi), in my opinion Mutable Instruments does the most beautiful Eurorack modules. They put a lot of attention to detail, also loving the characteristic logo on Shruthi PCBs.

I think Mutable Instruments certainly makes some beautiful gear. Like the OP-1, their use of color accents on the knobs is really delightful (and perhaps purposefully functional like the OP-1?). Their Shruthi XT is one of my favorites. Too bad they no longer make them.



now that Elektron have released Overbridge my GAS for an A4 or Rytm has been stirred again.

ONE DAY I will own an Elektron box or two ;) (Just got to sneak it past the accountant ... i mean wife) ;)
The 'Elvis' microphone! (Trying not to want a MicroGranny/anything by Elektron but powers of resistance are weakening...)
Not sure if I will be the bearer of good or bad news. Elektron just announced 15% off all their analog machines today. Maybe I have to get the A4 now. God dammit. Help. How do we resist this?
Not sure if I will be the bearer of good or bad news. Elektron just announced 15% off all their analog machines today. Maybe I have to get the A4 now. God dammit. Help. How do we resist this?

You can resist it by giving all your gear money to me!!! I promise, I won’t let you spend it!!!


Not sure if I will be the bearer of good or bad news. Elektron just announced 15% off all their analog machines today. Maybe I have to get the A4 now. God dammit. Help. How do we resist this?

You resist this by answering yourself if you can afford it - and if not, just wait, there’ll be other occasions like Black Friday or whatnot :wink: and it comes from a heavy GAS addict, who eventually streamlined his setup back down to Octatrack + iPad (but aiming at grabbing that OP-1 this year to make her sing with the OT).

Either that or just sell a kidney and get yourself a Dark Trinity. That might work, too. And then invest the change into Eurorack, you’ll want something to be fed with those 2 CV tracks.



and it comes from a heavy GAS addict, who eventually streamlined his setup back down to Octatrack + iPad (but aiming at grabbing that OP-1 this year to make her sing with the OT).

I have a streamlined setup too. There isn’t a compulsion for endlessly more gear that I need to struggle against, though I love window-shopping. I really enjoy keeping it simple. And it’s for that reason that I may not get an A4. There are many design concerns of accessibility, usability I have with Elektron gear, but after coming across a thread in Elektron’s forum where a bunch of veteran owners are discussing their confusion and frustration on how to consistently save their work/kits/sounds, after having lost some of their work from time to time, I think I can finally stop considering Elektron gear.


Until they release a new one…


I have a streamlined setup too. There isn’t a compulsion for endlessly more gear that I need to struggle against, though I love window-shopping. I really enjoy keeping it simple. And it’s for that reason that I may not get an A4. There are many design concerns of accessibility, usability I have with Elektron gear, but after coming across a thread in Elektron’s forum where a bunch of veteran owners are discussing their confusion and frustration on how to consistently save their work/kits/sounds, after having lost some of their work from time to time, I think I can finally stop considering Elektron gear.


Until they release a new one…

This probably won’t help your GAS, but I think the A4 is the smoothest way of entering the world of Elektron gear: the naming conventions are not as convoluted as on other devices, there are no quirky mechanics (like managing samples on AR, sigh) and not too much menu diving (as in for example the OT a.k.a. menu diving galore) - you can just launch it and start banging. And saving patches will be addressed soon, it seems. Actually Elektron may have already addressed it with Overbridge - can’t tell, I don’t own the A4 at the moment.

From what I’ve seen regarding the problem with saving on the A4, it’s been mostly user error from people who seem to either refuse to read the A4 manual, or simply don’t understand what they are reading. It may sound rude, but I believe in “survival of the fittest” when it comes to running synthesizers: if you can’t/won’t figure it out on your own, you will never get the most out of your synthesizer/gear. Period.

Mr. Dateline from Elektron addressed the issue recently in a thread and made it sound fairly simple to save all of your setups on the A4, so I have to question how much of it is actually an “Elektron issue”, and how much of it is “User Error”.

Sorry just wanted to state my opinion on the matter, back to the topic on hand though: I love Elektrons approach to design, because I believe hardware without dedicated knobs/buttons (soft encoders and the like) don’t necessarily need a large screen in order to be functional. I own a Monomachine, and I find once I’m in the groove I’m only glancing at the screen for very brief periods to check up on everything that I want to bring in/take out. Learning where the encoders are assigned at each screen becomes second nature after a few lengthy sessions, and from there it’s just insanely powerful.

That Phenol synth makes me proud to be Canadian!


And saving patches will be addressed soon, it seems. Actually Elektron may have already addressed it with Overbridge - can't tell, I don't own the A4 at the moment.

What have you heard about how saving would be addressed?


…so I have to question how much of it is actually an “Elektron issue”, and how much of it is “User Error”.

As with any potential purchase, when you haven’t used it before, you attempt to gauge how much of the opinions represent a minority or a general consensus. There’s certainly a consensus on the opacity of Elektron’s functional design, broadly speaking, but as to specific things like saving–something so important and simple–I certainly can’t tell if that thread reflects a problem for a minority of users or something more.

Haven’t heard anything in particular, just assuming this will be addressed as the problem seems to be emerging on Elektronauts more frequently recently. Also OB should help, but I have no idea if it actually does help.

Then again, OP-1 isn’t exactly ace in saving things too, is it? And I doubt it narrows its user base - same with A4, neglecting an awesome synth experience due to a minor issue with saving presets is a Bad Thing.

But on second thought it might actually be a Good Thing for keeping GAS at bay, so good going! :wink:

@DJHombre


I found a KLF sample on the 2.1 one night while messing around with it.

Question for the non programmer here.how do you go about updating the MIcrogranny ? I was looking at the page earlier and there is a link for free upgrade etc…but the link is dead and I emailed them a while back a few times and never heard back.

you either replace the atmega microcontroller with one that has the newer firmware, or you use an ftdi serial adapter to plug yours into a computer via USB.